Rethinking Notions of Informal Work: Some Observations from a Pakistani Community in the UK

Abstract

Paid informal work has commonly been conceptualised as a form of paid employment heavily imbued solely with profit motivations. However, this article critically argues that such a market-oriented reading of paid informal exchange fails to take into account alternative explanations for the existence of informal work practices. Using evidence from fifty interviews conducted within a large urban Pakistani community in the UK, this paper lends support to a mixed-embeddedness explanation. These results elucidate certain implicit social constructs and the negotiated nature of work relations existing within the labour processes of informal businesses. What can be termed 'immigrant agency' is found to be a major reason for Pakistani employers and employees engaging in mutually beneficial exchanges in the informal economy. Hence our empirical findings add weight to understanding informal work as a complex set of cultural, political and social rationales. Within the UK's 'ethnic economy', whilst so-called 'new migrant' groups are using formal employment agencies to engage with the UK labour market, our empirical findings demonstrate the embeddedness nature of this specific 'old migrant' urban community, utilising co-ethnic networks to navigate UK labour markets. Such findings highlight the continuing challenges faced by policy-makers in the UK, striving to facilitate meaningful integration within the UK's urban spaces.